EDITORIAL:

Several days later on November 10, 1789, he died. A funeral was held for him in Fayetteville (probably in the Episcopal Church since he was a member of that denomination). The State General Assembly attended the funeral in a body, and the procession included North Carolina Governor Samuel Johnston and other chief public officials of the state.

He was Grand Master of the North Carolina Masonic Order (most members of the General Assembly were Masons in those days), so the rites of the Order were observed at the funeral.

After the funeral, his friends and family brought him home to Kinston. They held another funeral and buried him in the "Caswell cemetery."

Richard Caswell was one of Kinston's most important citizens. He helped settle the town for the Royal Colonial government and even gave it its name.

Before the Revolutionary War, he traveled to Philadelphia and participated in the Continental Congress, helping to draft the American Constitution. He was even instrumental in making sure that the American Constitution included an "independent judiciary " with "a Supreme Court to decide questions arriving between the United States government and the individual states as well as questions between individual states."

During the war, Richard Caswell played an instrumental role in kicking the British out of North Carolina, thus becoming one of North Carolina's most famous war veterans.

After the war, North Carolinians chose him to be their first constitutional governor.

After Richard Caswell's death, his son Dallam was declared the sole surviving executor of the Caswell estate. Unfortunately for the Caswells, their dad had mortgaged most of the family properties to help finance the American fight against the British. After paying his father's debts, Dallam was forced to ask the state to cancel a state tax claim and allow the family to keep their last remaining tract of land.

"Look Dallam, your father was a great American hero and our first governor, and we really do appreciate that," the state replied, "but the tax debt is not forgiven."

Nothing much has changed for Richard Caswell since those days, so it should be no surprise that the state of North Carolina has misplaced his grave.

North Carolina's Department of Archives and History has a historical marker in Kinston on Vernon Avenue in front of the Revolutionary War park named in his honor that says the governor is buried 200 yards away.

When you ask to see the governor's grave, no one can show it to you, because the state does not know where it is. They will show you the grave of Governor Caswell's daughter and even the graves of some of his other kin folk, but not poor Richard's grave.

There is no record of his body ever being moved from where he was originally buried. So where is the grave of Governor Richard Caswell?

How could such a thing happen? How does a state lose its first governor, especially one that is considered the George Washington of that state?

Four Kinston businessmen including myself are offering a cash reward of $1,000 to any individual or organization providing information pinpointing the exact location of Governor Richard Caswell's grave.

Chris Maroules of Christopher's Restaurant, Carlos Cannon of Johnson Music, Ray Waller of Waller Printing, the Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project and myself (Neuse River Antiques & Pottery) have pledged to pay the reward.

So far, the politicians who control North Carolina's Archives and History have shown very little interest in compiling and preserving a complete and accurate record of the state's first governor.

That's too bad.